More Boxes

It turns out I like this style of box.

The lid is on the right and on the left is the side view.

Lid and box.

Box with my hand holding the lid on.

A narrower box like the wider one above.

With the lid on

I call this a box but it more like a deep tray.

Bottom of the tray/box.

These boxes take a little time but to make them you take the wood that you want the glue and press them together. I let it set for at least 24 hours. Right now, I am using Titebond III glue. It seems to work very well and is well reviewed.

After it is set, I slice it with the table saw. I have found it is best not to make the thickness more than the height of the blade. Two cuts just does not work for me since my table saw is not the greatest. I make do nicely though. Sometimes I miter the corners and other times, I do not. On the last box I took some dark walnut and made nice little details for the corners. They are covered with a polyurethane.

Business Card Holders

I saw some business card holder pics and thought that I can make something like that. So, I did.

The ones above I made first. They hold a business card a little tighter than the ones below. I feel they are a little thin so I made the ones below.

These are thicker than the first ones but are larger than a business card. I actually like the oversize but my wife doesn't. I started making two more today. A business card will be very tight in those new ones. I like the detail strips on the sides. I finished them with tung oil.

The ones with the strips are leftover pieces from cutting boards that I thinned.

Another trivet

This is a much larger trivet than the other ones posted earlier and I like it better.

It is just short pieces of maple, cherry and dark walnut glued together.

Boxes

I made these boxes.

These first 3 pictures are the boxes without a coating of polyurethane or paint. I made the first ones of different woods and glued them together and then cut them with the table saw.

The second picture has the left over wood from the first boxes and I made what I call a thumb box. I call it that because it is small. My wife now has tea bags in it. The second picture also has a small tray that I made out of spalted oak. I made the inside corners with mahogany. I had some short pieces of spalted oak and cut them thin to make the box.

The third picture is an oak box/tray that I made. I did not miter the corners because I did not like the way it turned out. So I trimmed it and made it work.

These two pics are of the first boxes with polyurethane. I think they turned out beautifully.

I did the same with these boxes.

This one my wife decided that I needed to paint it the same colors as her shelves for the bathroom. I am not found of painting the nice oak but I am found of making sure she is happy.

Yard Signs

I made these little yard signs.

The ones above are the second batch that I made. I just do the cutouts, sanding and nailing. My wife and my mother came up with the designs since I can't draw well at all.

The 2 pictures above are what my mother painted so wonderfully. I think they look great and people seem to like them.

I just make them out of the scraps of cypress that I have leftover from the chairs.

Trivets

These were quite easy to make.

I made these also out of shorter pieces of wood that I had of maple and dark walnut. I coated it with butcher block oil like the cutting boards. I do not know if it is right but it looks nice. They are just glued together. I did put a couple of nails in the bottom though. I will piddle around with some other designs and post those also.

Little Coasters

I made the coasters with the scrap pieces from cutting boards.

I just made these out of short scraps of wood I would use on cutting boards. I did not put any butcher block oil or polyurethane on them. It is just strips of black walnut, cherry, maple, poplar and some mahogany. They are random widths and lengths but it is always nice to have something odd for people to put their drinks on. I did trim and sand them.

Shelves for Bathroom

My wife wanted a shelving area for her bathroom.

I had a couple of old shelves made of 1x10 pine and disassembled them and re-purposed them for her shelving. The first picture is before painting.

This is after painting the shelves.

These two pictures are after placing it into the correct area. I mounted it to the wall so that it would not tip over. It is very solid. She originally wanted the towels in picture but has since changed her mind and now a new color of towels are there.

Since my 1x10 pine boards were only 4 feet long, I butt joined them where you see the first shelf.

Right now I do not have a bunch of woodworking tools. I do have the right tools to do small projects like this. I find the tools that are most needed to do most projects are

7-1/4 Circular saw

Drill

Jigsaw

Table saw

Chop saw

Sander

and that is most of the tools that I have.

I could do more with a planer and joiner but you make do. In reality, if you have a circular saw and hammer and nails, you can do most household projects. 

Anyway, I think it looks nice.

Working on more cutting boards and boxes now.

More Cypress Chairs

If you notice there is a different design on the back from an earlier post on these chairs.

I also have been changing the height of the front legs. If I remember correctly then I usually make them 21 1/2" but these are 20 1/2". I think the legs might be better around 22 1/2". It may make the slope slightly less. They would still be very comfortable to sit in though. My next batch will be with the front legs about an inch taller.

This picture is of a child's adirondack chair. I made the design myself and I think it is fine. When I say I made the design, I mean that I figured the sizing myself. I looked at other pictures of chairs and piddled with it til it looked right. The seat part is not rounded like the adult chairs are nor is the back. I think the radius would be too tight for the size of the slats. I used the same size slats as the adult chairs and the same screws. I changed the lumber from 2x6's to 2x4's. It is still made of cypress.

These chairs can be made of any material. I like cypress since it ages nicely and does not really rot like other woods. I do not recommend painting cypress or cedar. Other woods would be fine painted and would probably cause it to last longer. The exact opposite would happen with painted cypress.

A Couple of Older Projects - Shelves and Computer Desk

My wife sent me a couple of pics she saved of these two projects. I did not have any pics of these.

I decided that I needed a new computer desk when I came up with this design. I used 1x12 Pine for the sides and I had some 1/2 inch birch plywood sitting around and used that for the desk top. The first picture is the front and unstained. The second is the back, stained. I built it a couple of years ago and am still using it. I built, sanded, stained and moved it into the computer room within 36 hours. I think it is a very easy project. I did not worry about screw holes and their appearance. I consider this a glue and screw project.

This book shelf is something my wife wanted. I was unsure how it would look after discussing it with her. I had some 1x8 poplar that I had not used in years and made these two shelves. Roughly speaking these shelves are 3 feet in height with the shelves being about 12 inches apart, just enough room for a hardcover book to fit in. After staining them and mounting them on the wall, I thought they looked great. To me, and I am not a decorator by any stretch of the imagination, it seemed to give depth to the room and walls. She liked these two so much, I had to build two more.

Boxes and Frames

Going to Mom's this weekend and she needed a couple of boxes for people to flip through her photos for sale. We will also be making some stretch canvas frames.

Well, we will be stretching the canvas anyway. The frames are built and she wanted to not use the standard sizes that can be bought anywhere. I have never made an artist's frame before, though it is quite simple. Neither of us has stretched canvas and put the gesso on before. It will be a learning experience. Maybe someone else will want to buy some if I can figure it out...

The boxes are just made of luan sides and bottom. I cut the corner detail out of some scrap cypress and used 3/4 plywood for the foot area. She will paint it. The boxes are 9x11x6.

I hope she sells photos out of the boxes.

This is the finished products. Pardon my ignorance on the "frames". I was corrected at my mother's gallery place. The uncovered "frames" were called stretchers. The dark spots on the stretchers is a little water to help shrink the canvas that is stretched on them. The first couple did not turn out very good. but after that they turned out well. I got wrinkles out before staples were put in. When I say wrinkles, I mean major wrinkles not little ones that could be taken out by water. I also got rid of wads of fabric that I somehow bundled on the corners. 

Cutting boards

Some cutting boards that I have made

The first one is one that I bought as a kit years ago. It was assembled but never finished. I finished it before Christmas.

The second picture was a gift for my wonderful in-laws.

The last 2 pics, which are 3 cutting boards. I call them cheese boards since they are smaller and are just the right size for cheese and crackers. They were gifts at Christmas time. The pics are after the first coat of butcher block oil was put on them and now you know the reason for the ladder in the pics.

I bought the wood as scrap pieces from someone that had a bunch of short pieces of Mahogany, dark walnut, maple, oak and other bits and pieces. I was so pleased with my small purchase, I bought more a few weeks later telling him of the great fun that I had with them.

I am actually working on 5 more boards but I need a planer to fix my small mistakes. It seems the thicker ones curl more when clamped. I have the boards not looking right. Once they are done, I will post those too.

Bench

One of my wife's friends wanted a bench.

She wanted something to sit on when she got inside to take off her shoes and a place to store them. Shoes / boots fit on the shelf and slippers / flipflops fit underneath. She painted it to match her decor. This is the bare wood before pic.

It is made with 1x12 pine and 1/4 inch plywood on the back. 

This is the finished product and she did a great job painting it.

A chair made of 2x4 spruce

I wanted to see if I could build a parsons type chair out of a 2x4. I did and here is the result.

The back legs are not straight. I cut them to the seat at about a 15 degree angle and the back I let run straight from there. I ripped the rest of the 2x4 to make the back slats and seat slats and the braces. It is not much to look at but I never attempted a chair like this before. I just kind of sketch things out and see how it goes. It sits level and I will paint it, eventually.

I would change the slat spacing on the seat and the band for the seat. I think the back looks fine. the leg bracing is quite adequate. I did some air nails, glue and sheet rock screws.

A little box

Here is a little box that I made as a present for my wife at Christmas. It is made of Cedar. I had pieces of a Cedar pallet sitting around and made a box. I used a hole saw for the inside. I made the dowel with a drill and sandpaper. I did not have a lathe at the time. It is a swing top and she wanted a darker stain on it. I thought it looked fine plain, but it was her present and she got to decide.

The dowel is glued to the top but loose in the box part. I also got rid of the scratch in the top by sanding the lid to bare wood and restaining.

Adirondack Chiairs

Here are some chairs that I built.

I make these out of cypress. 

The first pic lumber was cut about 3 years earlier and it literally sat on the ground for that time before I did the finish cuts. It is what the next two pics of chairs will look like a couple of years later. I think it gives a nice look as it ages.