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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
Pass-through window shelves
To finish my friend, Margie’s kitchen, she wanted to add some shelves to the kitchen pass-through window. We adjusted the opening to make it smaller, allowing for an additional cabinet … Continue reading
A simple kitchen counter top
My friend Margie wanted to redo her kitchen counter, and has a small budget for the project. The main goals of the project were to get rid of the stock … Continue reading
Wedding goblets
I have one last project for Diana & Ryan’s wedding. Since we have been working on the lathe a lot in my shop lately, I thought I would try to … Continue reading
Tracie’s cherry rolling pin
My wife Tracie has been learning to use the lathe in my shop. She has made several pens and magic wands, and she is starting to branch out. She wanted me … Continue reading
Garden Trellis – day 2
I had Erin work on cutting lattice strips to length while I started laying out the seat supports on a cedar panel that I glued up. I printed out … Continue reading
Garden Trellis – day 1
Erin has a new project. She is building a garden bench with a trellis over it, as a wedding present for her sister Diana. This is the basic design, that … Continue reading
Diana’s Cake stand
For the last several years, my lathe has sat in the corner, and been a the perfect place to stack and store stuff. Kind of like the weight bench and elliptical, … Continue reading
Celtic knot pen
I recently saw an article on making a turned Celtic knot and I have been experimenting with it a bit for another project. Since my wife has been coming down … Continue reading
Lithophane light box
I had a wedding shower to go to today, for Erin’s sister Diana, and I wanted to make something special to bring as a gift. When I first got my Carvewright … Continue reading
Picture frames
Erin came over, just before Christmas, to start on a present for her sister. We made this plaque by laminating a 1/8″ thick sheet of poplar to a 1/2″ thick … Continue reading
Winter recap
First off, sorry I haven’t posted anything in a couple of months. I have been busy, but not all that much in the shop. I started a project back in … Continue reading
Erin’s Fireplace bar – day 11 Delivered
Over the last couple of days we applied three coats of polyurethane to the bar. Between each coat, we sanded the entire thing down with 400 grit sandpaper. When the … Continue reading
Erin’s Fireplace bar – day 10
Almost ready to wrap this project up. Just a few more details and we should be able to install this weekend. When I did the dry-fit on Saturday, I took … Continue reading
Erin’s Fireplace bar – day 9
Erin came over last night, so we started working on the caps for the corbels. She cut and planed a piece down to 1/2″ thick for the first of the … Continue reading
Erin’s Fireplace bar – day 8
We had a chance to do a bit more work, on the bar, last night. We started by attaching the face by running wood screws through the flange on the … Continue reading
Erin’s Fireplace bar – day 7
I had a little time today before Erin came over to work on the bar, so I wanted to get a few things prepped. I need an arched opening for … Continue reading
Erin’s Fireplace bar – day 6
This project has so many details that I have to keep bouncing back an forth between them on this blog. I think it is finally starting to come together though. … Continue reading
Erin’s Fireplace bar – day 5
Erin is back in town, so we were able to get back to work on the fireplace bar today. Over the last couple of days, I have been working on … Continue reading
Building a Cajon
My oldest son Eric, sent me an online article a few months back, showing how to build a cajon. Since he likes to play drums, he asked if it was … Continue reading
Erin’s Fireplace bar – day 4
I finished painting the corbels a couple of days back, but saved the sanding for Erin. She cut apart the individual halves of the corbels on the band saw staying … Continue reading
Erin’s Fireplace bar – day 3
I acquired a nice piece of oak to make the corbels from. It was 2″ thick, 7″ wide, and clear of any knots. We will be able to stack two … Continue reading
Erin’s Fireplace bar – day 2
So the plan is to do some carving on the front of the fireplace, just below the mantle, and on the sides of the corbels. I am not so worried … Continue reading
