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
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
