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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
High school woodworking class – day 1
We home school our kids, and twice a year we get together with a group of other home school families and have a co-op. One parent will teach a subject, … Continue reading
Appalachia Mission 2017
I just got back yesterday, from our annual mission trip to Preston County West Virginia. We took about 20 teenagers to work on four separate houses. My team’s job site … Continue reading
Mini church furniture – Baptismal font
I was tasked with building some mini church furniture back in August. I was recently asked to add another piece to the collection, a Baptismal font. A fairly heavy glass bowl … Continue reading
Mini church furniture – Tabernacle and stand
My project this weekend, is to get the tabernacle and stand done. I start by cutting all the sides down to size, for the tabernacle, then I round over the … Continue reading
Mini church furniture – Altar
The second big piece in this set is the altar. I started by planing down a couple of boards to 3/8″ thick, then glued them up to be the top … Continue reading
Mini church furniture – Ambo
One of the projects that I need to get done this month is a set of mini church furniture. A friend of mine is teaching a religion class to a … Continue reading
Papal furniture delivery
I haven’t been in the shop the last couple of weeks, but I did get to visit my friend Doug’s shop to see the construction of the papal chair as … Continue reading
Detail sanding the Papal seal
I have been avoiding the hard part of the Papal seal carve. I have to detail sand all of the nooks and crannies. The cut marks that are left behind by … Continue reading
Papal furniture construction
I spent a few hours yesterday, at Carriage Hill Custom Cabinets & Millwork. This is where part of the papal furniture is being constructed, for the Pope’s visit to the … Continue reading
The papal chair project – day 2/3
The panel has dried, so I pulled the clamps and sharpened up my smoothing plane blade. I worked with both my smoothing plane and my orbital sander to get the … Continue reading
The papal chair project
A few weeks back, I did a few test carves of the Papal seal. Those were for my next project. My friend Dave had the honor of being in charge of … Continue reading
Appalachia mission trip 2015
I just got back from our Youth group’s annual mission trip to Preston County West Virginia. We work with the Summer home repair project, run by the church of Preston … Continue reading
Carving the Papal seal
I am helping out a friend with an upcoming project. I need a couple of carved versions of the Pope Francis’ Papal seal. I spent several long hours creating a 3D model, … Continue reading
Reception desk – day 11 – complete
Finish is cured, so its time to put the door back together. I installed the lock, and the hinges, then located the handle. I used a magic marker to mark … Continue reading
Reception desk – day 10
Day three of finishing looked just like the day before, so I didn’t bother to post it. I decided, for the last two coats, that I would brush straight, undiluted … Continue reading
Reception desk – day 9
Just a quick post today. The first coat of wiping poly has had a full day to cure, so to prep for the second coat, I am gently sanding all … Continue reading
Reception desk – day 8
I am down to one thing left to do on the desk and that is the polyurethane finish. I really don’t have the room to set up the spray booth … Continue reading
Reception desk – day 7
I wrapped up construction yesterday, but I didn’t get a chance to put up a post. So todays post has two days of effort. The final big item on my … Continue reading
Reception desk – day 6
Since I have large round-overs around the counter top, My T-square jig won’t work the same as it did for the shelves. I won’t be able to line up the … Continue reading
Reception desk – day 5
Yesterday’s panels are cured, so I ran them through the planer, taking them down to 3/4″ thick. I ran all of the boards through the table saw to take them … Continue reading
Reception desk – day 4
I have decided to work on the upper portion of the desk next. For the counter top, I want to use a solid piece of 6/4 oak. For this, I … Continue reading
Reception desk – day 3
Well I managed to sneak in a few hours of shop time this weekend around Rob’s wedding. Enough time to finish the counter top anyway. I realized that I forgot … Continue reading
Reception desk – day 2
So it is shaping up to be a busier week than I planned. I did have some time last night to start on the counter top. I started by wrestling … Continue reading
Reception desk – day 1
I haven’t had much time in the shop over the last couple of weeks, but I put some time in today. I am starting on a two-level reception desk for … Continue reading
Statue bases – day 8
My intent was to spray a third coat today, but after checking on the dry bases, I determined that were actually pretty good. The finish was smooth and even, and … Continue reading
Statue bases – day 7
Before I apply the second coat of poly, I need to sand down the finish to remove any raised grain or dust nibs that settled on the boxes while they … Continue reading
Statue bases – day 6
The stain has set for two days, and I had a few minutes, this evening, to get the first coat of polyurethane on. If I was brushing on the poly, … Continue reading
Statue bases – day 5
I had a few minutes last night to get the stain on my statue bases. I noticed that a lot of dust had settled over night, so I ran the shop-vac … Continue reading
Statue bases – day 4
To save myself a lot of tedious detail sanding later, I decided to sand down all of the base cap trim, before installing it. I cut all of my trim … Continue reading
Statue bases – day 3
Before installing the base trim on the boxes, I need to install the bottom spacers. I once again turned to my pile of off-cuts for some 20″ long pieces that … Continue reading
