Appalachia mission trip 2019
This was my tenth year going on the Appalachia mission trip with the Saint Peter’s youth group. Our parish has been participating in the program for over 30 years now. … Continue reading
Converting maple & purpleheart crib to a bed
Remember the Maple & Purpleheart Crib that I made about three years ago? Well that little girl is not so little any more. Now that she is climbing out of … Continue reading
Floating shelf
After adding the new couch to the living room, my wife and I wanted to open up the corner of the room, where the TV is. This would give us … Continue reading
Bier build – day 3
The stain has set over night. It is not quite cured enough to apply finish, but it is dry enough that you can touch it without staining your clothes. I … Continue reading
Bier build – day 2
Time to figure out my rail attachment. I have some thumb screws with 1-1/2″ of thread. That means it I will have to attach it from the top, not … Continue reading
Bier build – day 1
I was asked to build a bier for the May procession at the National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes in Emmitsburg, MD. That gave me about two weeks to pull something … Continue reading
Kyle’s Guitar – day 6 – complete
After four coats of High-gloss Tung oil, the guitar is looking good. Time to move on to the installation of the hardware. I measured the output jack, and drilled a … Continue reading
Holy Oils case
I was given a project to do for my church, about a year ago. They requested that a box be made to transport the holy oils that are consecrated at … Continue reading
Kyle’s Guitar – day 4/5
I cut some more walnut to make a new back panel. I took care to try to match the sap wood on the front half. It won’t be a … Continue reading
Kyle’s Guitar – day 3
While the back panel was curing, I loaded the front panel into my CNC and started the carve. About 4 hours later it finished. Unfortunately the board was slightly thicker … Continue reading
Kyle’s Guitar – day 2
Kyle gave me the neck and hardware, that he bought for the guitar, so that I could get exact measurements. Then I drew everything up and did a test carve. … Continue reading
Kyle’s Guitar – day 1
My friend Kyle recently asked if I would be interested in helping him build a custom guitar. He had some wood from his Grandfather’s farm that had been cut into … Continue reading
Couch Console
So here is the new couch in its new home. When we ordered the couch, we knew that it was about 12″ shorter than the length of the room. I … Continue reading
Refinishing hardwood floors
My oldest son moved out a couple of weeks back and we let him take the sleeper sofa that has been in our living room for 20 years. We wanted … Continue reading
Handicap toilet seat
Here is an interesting project for you. My Mother-in-law’s new handicap height toilet (17″) is not tall enough. The current options available are limited. A riser that replaces the seat, … Continue reading
Handicap accessibility for my in-law’s
Its been a few months since I have put up a new post. I have been spending all of my spare time at my in-laws, trying to make their house … Continue reading
Lectern Day 5 – Delivered
Before applying the second coat of polyurethane, I have to sand down the first coat with 400 grit paper to smooth out the surface. Even though this thing was inside … Continue reading
Lectern Day 4
The column is complete so it is time to make the top part. I joined up two pieces, to make the bottom, and left them to dry. I laid out … Continue reading
Lectern Day 3
I noticed a few gaps around the inlay still so I applied a line of CA glue around both crosses and allowed it to dry. I had intended to have … Continue reading
Lectern Days 1 & 2
I built an altar and tabernacle stand about five years ago, for the chapel at my church. I was recently asked to design and build a lectern to match. Here … Continue reading
Vicenç’s guitar – day 4,5,6… – complete
Vicenç applied the first coat of finish before he went home the other day. Over the next couple of days, I applied another three coats of Tung oil, sanding the … Continue reading
Vicenç’s guitar – day three
Before we start shaping the body, I took some time to figure out the wire routing. I drilled a small hole into the tremolo compartment to route a ground wire. … Continue reading
Vicenç’s guitar – day two
Before we can start carving out this guitar body, I need to finish up my design on the computer and convert everything into vectors that can be imported into my … Continue reading
Vicenç’s guitar – day one
WOW, it has been a busy summer. I haven’t put up a post in a couple of months. Sorry about that. I have a couple of new projects coming though, … Continue reading
Bishop’s Crosier Rev 2
My friend Dave asked me to help him make another crosier. I wanted to revise the design of the previous crosier to incorporate some upgrades to the previous design. And of … Continue reading
Backlight office sign – week 3
At first glance, installing these LED lights seemed rather straight-forward. But, like everything else I do, the harder you look at it, the more complicated it gets. Hind-sight is a … Continue reading
Backlight office sign – week 2
Last week, I got all the wood cut out and assembled. This week I am working on stain, urethane and paint. The first step was to remove all of the … Continue reading
Backlight office sign – week 1
My friend Marques is moving his office to a new location. He needs to put his logo up on the wall and was not having much luck finding what he … Continue reading
Lathe duplicator experiment
My wife has been learning to turn projects on the lathe and doing very well. She recently tried to copy a candle stick that she made and got very close, … Continue reading
Rose engagement ring box
My oldest son recently came to my wife and I to tell us that he was going to propose to his girlfriend. Tracie and I are very happy for him, … Continue reading
Tracie’s cherry bowl
My wife, Tracie, wants to start doing bigger things on the lathe, so I prepped some cherry for her to turn a bowl with. I started with some rough 3″x3″ … Continue reading
Making a Bishop’s crosier
This project was an interesting challenge. My friend Dave was making a crosier for a bishop friend of his and he was running into some problems. He has a CNC of his … Continue reading
Turning bottle stoppers from firewood
I have had my wood stove for about nine years. Every year I go out and cut up downed trees for wood to help heat my house. Last year, we took down … Continue reading
Arch-top cabinet – day 5 Complete
In the last post, I applied the first coat of finish. Since then, I have applied four coats. I did not bother to photograph each coat, because they all look … Continue reading
Arch-top cabinet – day 4
Last night I quit for the day when I realized the screws for the door pulls were too long. My fix for that is to use a cut-off wheel, on … Continue reading
Arch-top cabinet – day 3
I bought the LED strip, knowing I would need some form of backlighting. The problem is where to attach it. I remembered that I had a left-over strip of thin … Continue reading
Arch-top cabinet – day 2
I think I have worked out my joinery issues, so before I tackled that, I started a carve of the sunburst for the back of the cabinet. It will take … Continue reading
Arch-top cabinet – day 1
I have had this project on the back burner for a couple of months now. The design has been the big hold-up. Normally, I can easily discern a design that … Continue reading
Setting up the Pro-grind sharpening system
I know I haven’t been posting much lately. I have been working on the shop a bit, trying to make some room for a few upgrades. I do have a … Continue reading
Supermax 19-38 drum sander
I like tools. The problem with collecting them is that you eventually run out of space. I wanted to add a drum sander to my shop tool collection, but I … Continue reading
Adding a digital readout to my Jet 15″ planer
For Christmas, my lovely wife gave me a remote digital planer readout for my new planer, to make it easier for me to see what board thickness I am planing … Continue reading
Shop upgrade – New planer
Planing down a bunch of hard maple on the last project really got me thinking about an upgrade to my planer. My Rigid 13″ planer has served me well for … Continue reading
Illuminated display columns
I have another interesting challenge to work on for my church. The Ambry is the alcove where the holy oils are displayed. Not a lot of thought went into the … Continue reading
High school woodworking class – day 6
I made up some blocks to use as French cleats, to hang the picture. I wasn’t sure how long it would take to hang so I took off the day … Continue reading
High school woodworking class – day 5
Day five of this six-day woodworking class, and we are starting on our third project, a marshmallow catapult. When I was looking for projects to build in this class, I … Continue reading
Quick and dirty Moxon vise
I am going to need something to clamp wood into, for this class I am teaching. I need to hold wood in a vertical position so the teens can cut … Continue reading
High school woodworking class – day 4
Fourth day of class today. Even though it was a little damp and chilly, the kids got right to work. Unfortunately I was down two adult volunteers, and I forgot my … Continue reading
Reclaimed pub tables
My friend Todd owns the Brick Ridge restaurant, just down the road from me. He asked if I would be interested in making a couple of pub table tops for him, to … Continue reading
High school woodworking class – day 3
Picking up where we left off last week, we need to finish the top and bottom of our box. We finished cutting and sanding one of the curved pieces, but … Continue reading
High school woodworking class – day 2
Yesterday was day two of our woodworking class. We started work on the large picture frame. Here is a link to the plans if anyone wants to see what we … Continue reading
